Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Postdoc in Marine Micropaleontology & Paleoceanography (Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University)

The Paleoceanography and Paleoclimate Group at the Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Denmark, invites applications for a position in marine micropaleontology and paleoceanography at the postdoctoral level. The successful candidate will be part of a research group studying Holocene and late Quaternary paleoclimate and paleoceanography of the North Atlantic region.

The postdoctoral project is part of a large international EU Horizon 2020 project, ECOTIP, on the effect of climate change on ecosystems and biota in the Arctic region. The role of Aarhus University in the project is to provide the long-term perspective on these changes during recent millennia.

Application Deadline: 15 September 2020
The position has a fixed term of 2 years, starting as soon as possible, or whenever the successful applicant is available.


Job descriptionThe postdoctoral project will focus on investigating the link between temporal changes in climate and biodiversity and ecosystems changes in the Greenland and North Atlantic regions, with special focus on the reaction of biota to climate change.

The main tools of the postdoc project will be the investigation of marine sediment cores using a combination of preferably marine palynology, but also micropaleontology (diatoms, foraminifers, or ostracods), sedimentology, and geochemistry (XRF elemental data, stable isotopes, CaCO3, TOC, organic biomarkers) in a multi-proxy study. The postdoc will also experiment with the potential use of copepod remains in sediment samples.

Within the framework of the ECOTIP project, there is considerable freedom for the postdoctoral researcher to develop the project together with the hosts at Aarhus University.

Qualifications
The successful applicant will have a PhD in geoscience or related fields. Candidates should preferably have knowledge on Quaternary marine micropaleontology (especially marine palynology), although specialists in other techniques/proxies are also invited to apply. Experience in multi-proxy studies, paleoceanography and/or numerical/statistical data treatment will be considered favourably. Excellent oral and written English skills are a requirement.

Place of Employment and Place of Work:The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is the Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Høegh-Guldbergs Gade 2, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark: geo.au.dk/paleo

Contact Information:Applicants seeking further information are invited to contact:
Professor Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz, Department of Geoscience, University of Aarhus, Denmark; mobile phone +45 2778 2897; Email: mss@geo.au.dk.
Dr. Christof Pearce, Department of Geoscience, University of Aarhus, Denmark; mobile phone +45 9350 8915; Email: christof.pearce@geo.au.dk.
 
Application procedureShortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants, including the main considerations emphasized during the selection process.

Formalities and salary rangeNatural Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

The appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities: https://medarbejdere.au.dk/fileadmin/www.medarbejdere.au.dk/hr/Rekruttering/Onboarding/Ministerial_Order_no._1443_of_11_December_2019_on_Job_Structure_for_Academic_Staff_at_Universities.pdf

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background.
Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here: https://ias.au.dk/au-relocation-service/. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here: https://international.au.dk/research/

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here: https://talent.au.dk/junior-researcher-development-programme/

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.

For further information, see: https://geo.au.dk/profil/ledige-stillinger/job/postdoctoral-position-in-marine-micropaleontology-and-paleoceanography-at-the-department-of-geoscien/

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Are you interested in joining the GSA GBGM Executive Committee?

It's almost time to vote in the 2020-2022 GSA Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division leadership. As it stands, we currently have a great set of Division officers that have been serving you (the GBGM community), but we are always looking for new, enthusiastic folks to be part of the team. We are also looking for a student rep if you know anyone interested!

If you would be interested this year, please email Rowan Martindale <martindale@jsg.utexas.edu> by June 31st
(next Tuesday). If you might be interested in the future but can't commit for the next 2 years, let us know so we can keep you on the list. 

All the best,
Rowan (Chair), Vicky (Vice-Chair/Incoming chair) and the GBGM Division Officers

P.S. We still have over 60 bios that need to be adopted for our "Diverse Faces of Geobiology" website (and that list keeps growing). If you are inspired to write up one (or several) of these bios about the fabulous rainbow of humans who have helped build our field, please email the project coordinator, Carie Frantz <cariefrantz@weber.edu> (subject: “Diverse Faces of Geobiology”) and she will put you to work!

Thursday, June 11, 2020

“Using Digital Field Tools for Remote Teaching”- free webinar series by GSA/NAGT

Check out the GSA/NAGT free webinar series “Using Digital Field Tools for Remote Teaching”The currently scheduled webinars in this series are:

Details below!

All webinars will be recorded and posted in GSA's free Webinar Library, along with the Powerpoint used and some useful links prepared by the presenters. 




Using Google Earth for Remote Teaching, 
Tuesday, 16 June 2020, 11 a.m. MDT
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8305975126473363213

About this Webinar:
Google Earth is a powerful, but easy-to-use platform for virtually exploring natural features around the globe. The capability to create and share custom content for Google Earth has resulted in an abundance of presentations, exercises, and virtual field trips that are available to educators. This webinar will help you integrate Google Earth into remote Earth science courses by providing background on the tool and examples of its use in geoscience classes. 

In addition to the regular webinar overviewing Google Earth’s options, capabilities, and use cases, the presenters will do a follow up hands-on session two days later that will give participants a chance to work through some Google Earth activities themselves in a mentored (virtual) setting. This is a great opportunity to learn to use Google Earth the way your students would use it.

Presenters:
Steve Whitmeyer, James Madison University
Andrew Laskowski, Montana State University




Using Gigapan for Remote Teaching, 
Tuesday, 23 June 2020, 11 a.m. MDT

About this Webinar
Gigapixel panoramas are high resolution 2D images that combine 'zoomed out' context with the power of 'zoomed in' details. Applied to teaching geology remotely, they are valuable web-based tools for exploring geoscience concepts with students at scales ranging from the landscape to the outcrop to hand samples, to thin sections, to SEM. GigaPans can be embedded in webpages or desktop-based Google Earth KML tours as elements in virtual field experiences, potentially gaining power when combined with DEMs, 3D models of outcrops or samples, 360° spherical photos, or video. They can also be used as 'virtual samples' in times when student access to samples is limited. This webinar will cover the technical side of producing your own GigaPan images via two hardware/software packages as well as how to deploy extant CC-licensed GigaPans in your own remote teaching and outreach.

Presenters:
Callan Bentley, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus
Jennifer Piatek, Central Connecticut State University





Using Virtual Landscapes for Remote Teaching, 
Tuesday, 30 June 2020, 11 a.m. MDT

About this Webinar:
The Virtual Landscapes Project (https://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/virtual-landscapes/) uses the Unity 3D game engine to create screen based simulations of real and imagined landscapes, and interactive 3D block models of geologic and topographic maps.  It aims to enhance the training students receive in geological field and map skills, and to develop 3D visualization skills. This webinar demonstrates how virtual landscapes can be used in the online geoscience classroom to recreate aspects of geologic mapping training and augment understanding of how rock units are represented on geologic maps.

In addition to the regular webinar looking at the uses of the Virtual Landscapes, the presenters will do a follow up hands-on session two days later that will give participants a chance to explore the different virtual landscapes and their potential uses for themselves in a mentored (virtual) setting.  This is a great opportunity to explore the Virtual Landscapes the way your students would experience them.

Presenters:
Jacqueline Houghton, University of Leeds
Mark Helper, University of Texas at Austin 

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

#ShutDownSTEM and Diverse Faces of Geobiology Initiative

Dear Colleagues,

#ShutDownSTEM is a grassroots movement asking scientists and academics to strike (#strike4blacklives) tomorrow, Wednesday, June 10th, and use the day to work to “eradicate anti-Black racism in academia and STEM”. The #ShutDownSTEM website has resources to help all of us understand and combat anti-Black racism in STEM and the academy. Several of our geoscientist colleagues have also penned calls to action with specific actions we can all take:
As your friendly Geobiology/Geomicrobiology division officers, we invite you to join us in using the day to help us build a web resource designed to amplify the voices, stories, and research of geobiologists of underrepresented and historically marginalized groups!

We plan to launch a rich “Diverse Faces of Geobiology” website at the end of this month and need help writing bios and collecting stories about the fabulous rainbow of humans who have helped build our field. If you would like to join this effort, please email the project coordinator, Carie Frantz, at cariefrantz@weber.edu with the subject header “Diverse Faces of Geobiology” for details.

Sincerely,
Your Geobiology & Geomicrobiology Division Leadership Team